HOWE’S THE HIKE?
It Started With a Question
“Dad, take us into the woods you used to explore as a kid.”
That request from my twin daughters, Evelyn and Olivia, is where Howe’s The Hike? began.
In 2016, I took them to a fishing spot I had loved when I was young. One outing became another. Local trails became longer journeys, and taking a camera along became part of the experience.
At first, the videos were simply a way of preserving those family adventures. But the habit stayed, and the journeys kept growing.
From Family Hikes to Deep Wilderness Expeditions
Over time, Howe’s The Hike? developed into something much larger: a long-running record of multi-day backcountry travel across some of North America’s most remarkable wilderness.
The routes became longer. The terrain became more remote. The decisions carried greater consequences.
But the basic purpose of the videos never changed.
I wanted to show the backcountry as it actually happened, not as a perfected version reconstructed afterward.
That means the preparation stays in. So do the weather delays, difficult decisions, gear failures, changed plans, wrong turns and occasions when turning around is the right choice.
The scenery matters, but it is not the whole story. The story is what happens when a real person enters a real landscape without knowing exactly how everything will unfold.
A Practitioner With a Camera
I am a lifelong outdoorsman who brings a camera into the backcountry.
More than 133 documented multi-day trips have created a record of experience built over time: routes attempted, conditions encountered, lessons learned and decisions made when the original plan no longer fit the reality on the ground.
That accumulated experience shapes the way I approach every trip. The camera simply allows other people to come along.
More recently, some of those decisions have also become the basis for the Framework videos. They are not meant to hand people answers. They are a way of slowing down and looking more closely at how a decision gets made when the conditions, risks or information change.
A Lifetime in the Woods. A Future for the Wild.
My relationship with the backcountry extends well beyond making videos.
As a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and a board member of the Canadian Backcountry Trails Preservation Society, I care deeply about the landscapes that make these journeys possible, and about making sure future generations still have meaningful opportunities to experience them.
Trail preservation, responsible travel and practical wilderness education have always been part of the same picture for me.
The more people understand these places, the more likely they are to value them, protect them and make thoughtful decisions while travelling through them.
“Howe’s The Hike provides backpackers with the most accurate and informative overview of the trail today.”
— Brian Patton, co-author of the Canadian Rockies Trail Guide
The Trail Community
My daughters and I started putting these videos on YouTube simply to document our backpacking trips together. But as the channel grew, something unexpected happened with the people watching.
Viewers started writing back and sharing detailed stories of their own: near misses, wildlife encounters, hard-earned lessons and honest assessments of what works and what fails when you are miles from a trailhead.
I also regularly hear from people who can no longer backpack themselves and use the videos as a way to stay connected to the woods.
I am constantly humbled and deeply grateful for the trust people place in me and for the level of thought that goes into the comments, questions and stories people share.
Some of you have been here almost from the beginning. Others may have found the channel last week.
Either way, thank you for coming along.
What Comes Next
The trips will keep changing. So will the places, the conditions and the questions that come with them.
What I hope does not change is the reason Howe’s The Hike? exists in the first place.
Put on a pack. Head into the backcountry. Pay attention to what is actually happening.
Show the preparation. Respect the conditions. Leave the difficult decisions in the video.
And bring people along for whatever happens.
